


The Other Mother

by CrazyTaraWitch



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-03
Updated: 2014-07-03
Packaged: 2018-02-07 08:05:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1891500
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrazyTaraWitch/pseuds/CrazyTaraWitch
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set in season 3B, while Henry's still without his memories. Emma and Regina decide it's time to explain things.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Other Mother

**Author's Note:**

> For now this is a stand-alone story, but I may turn it into a series of one-shots if I get more ideas.

"Henry... there's something we need to explain to you," his mom began hesitantly. He had known as soon as she suggested this walk that there was something on her mind, but he knew Emma would tell him in time; she was good like that. It didn’t always stop him from pushing for answers, but it meant he knew if she promised to tell him later she would. So he had kept quiet as he walked along with his mother and Mayor Mills, until finally they had found a bench overlooking the water and all sat down together. He could see the mayor on his mom’s other side, looking even more nervous than she did; there was a lot about her he was still struggling to figure out, especially the way she looked at him sometimes, but she was nice enough, and he didn’t like seeing her so anxious.

“What is it Mom?” he pressed when she seemed to be stalling.

“It’s about Mayor Mills—Regina,” she glanced at the woman beside her and it struck him that they were trying to reassure each other. Whatever this conversation was about, they both needed their strength for it, and they seemed to be getting that strength from each other. _Interesting_.

“Kid, I know this is going to be a lot to take in, and you’re going to have a lot of questions, but Regina… She’s your other mother.”

Both women watched the boy’s brow furrow in confusion. They had discussed this conversation—arguing first about whether they should even have it, then about how—over and over in the last week, and the one thing they could agree on was not to rush Henry. Their son was smart, but he needed time to process things. They knew the story they’d created would take some serious explanation, but they wouldn’t rush. They both knew his expressions and it was clear he was sorting things out, piecing things together—he’d let them know when he was ready for them to fill in the gaps.

That didn’t mean waiting was easy.

Finally, Henry’s face cleared, and he looked at them with curiosity rather than confusion. “So why’d you two break up?”

Under different circumstances, seeing his mom’s eyes bulge out would have sent him laughing, but instead Henry felt his confusion return, especially when he noticed the pained look that flashed across Mayor Mills’ face.

“Back it up kid, we were never together.”

“Why not?” he asked curiously, struggling to understand how this stranger had been part of his life but also wanting to know just what her relationship was to his mom. He knew they’d spent a lot of time together since they’d come to Storybrooke, and the way the Mayor looked at Emma was almost as confusing as how she looked at him; then there was the way they had looked to each other when this conversation started, how they seemed to ground each other. For a few moments when he thought they’d been a couple it all made sense. If Regina still loved Emma that would explain a lot… But if they’d never been together what was going on? And how could Mayor Mills be his mom?

“It… just wasn’t like that is all,” Emma evaded, shifting uncomfortably. “You know how I always told you that you were put into foster care when you were first born, until I got out of prison?” Henry nodded, and Emma tried to contain her sigh of relief; if she worded this just perfectly, like she and Regina had planned, she could avoid outright lying. She knew how much Henry hated lies and the last thing she wanted was to betray his trust, but she justified that this was a much smaller lie than letting him continue to believe Regina was just a friendly stranger. “Well Regina took care of you until I got you back. I know you don’t remember, but she was the first mom you ever had. When I got you back we tried to parent together, but it was complicated; we both made mistakes, and in the end it seemed better for you and I to have a life just the two of us so we moved away.”

“I want you to know Henry,” Regina spoke up for the first time, a sad smile on her face, “I never stopped loving you, or wanting to be your mother. We were just trying to give you your best chance.”

“So… why didn’t I know about you?”

Regina’s eyes shone but she held back her tears. “I thought it would be too hard, for all of us. You were with your mother, and I knew she would love you, raise you and give you a good life. I thought… At first when Emma came back I thought she didn’t deserve you; I was selfish Henry, and I wanted you for myself. I’m not proud of it, but I didn’t think your mother was a fit parent, and I tried to keep you. I told myself I was doing it for you, but I was also doing it for me, because I loved you and wanted you to be mine. That wasn’t fair to you, but it took me a long time to see it.”

“I was still a mess Henry,” Emma took over the explanation. “I wanted to be your mom but I didn’t know how yet. We started figuring each other out pretty quick though, and it just felt right; you were my kid, and I wasn’t going to let anyone else get in the way of that. I was hostile to Regina for a long time, for a lot of reasons, but mostly I resented that she was there when I wasn’t, that she had been your mom when I couldn’t. We made a few clumsy attempts at coparenting, but we never could get the hang of it, and in the end when it was time for us to go it seemed… better, somehow, if all you remembered was a happy life with just you and me. We were trying to do the right thing, kid.”

“You lied to me,” Henry observed quietly. “I guess I can understand why you didn’t tell me when I was little, but I’m not a kid anymore. You should have told me.”

“It was my fault, Henry,” Regina cut in to the surprise of both her companions. “I had been selfish before, and when you were leaving and I thought I’d never see you again, I wanted to finally do what was best for _you_. I made it clear that I didn’t want you to know about me, so if you’re going to be angry with someone, it should be me.”

Henry could see the tears in her eyes, and he couldn’t find it in himself to be angry with her; not when she looked so sad and so hopeful all at once. It was a lot to process, but he supposed… if she loved him, it would be good to have her in his life right? There was still a lot he didn’t understand though, like the time his mom and Regina had been spending together, or why they looked at each other like… like the other was the only one in the world who saw them and understood. He’d never seen Emma look at anyone that way, like she trusted them, like they’d be worth sticking around for.

“Are you why we came to Storybrooke?” he finally asked, curiosity winning out over everything else. He didn’t miss the way Regina relaxed just a little, glad for a question instead of a reproach.

“I told you Henry,” Emma answers quickly, “we came because of a case. But… Yeah, Regina’s a part of it. I’m sorry we can’t explain better right now.” And for the first time since they came to this weird town, Henry believes her apology. Whatever’s going on, they’re trying to be honest with him now, and even though it still sucks to not have the truth he supposes he owes them a little credit for that.

“So… what’s the deal with you two?” He tries again. There are still answers he needs, even if he can’t quite find the right questions. “You don’t act like people who hated each other and then didn’t talk for 12 years.”

“We didn’t hate each other, exactly.” Regina quirks an eyebrow at that, and Emma quickly amends, “Not in the end, anyway. And now we’re… learning to work together. Which is probably long overdue,” she adds with a smile, and she’s looking at Regina with that warmth that confuses him again.

Regina smiles back when she answers, and her eyes don’t look as sad anymore. “Yes, I dare say it is, Miss Swan.”

“So you’re… friends?” Somehow the term doesn’t seem quite right to Henry, but it’s the best he can come up with.

He watches the way they search each other’s faces, the uncertainty and the softening, the way they stare just a little too long, and before his mother responds he’s decided that they’re more and less and _different_ than friends. But Emma smiles when she finally meets his gaze, and there’s pride in her voice when she answers, “Yeah kid, I guess we are.”


End file.
